Women looking to start or grow their business in Southern Utah have a new resource for success.

The Women’s Business Center of Utah will open a second office in Cedar City this spring. The center will provide women entrepreneurs in the southern half of the state with the training and resources needed to overcome obstacles on the road to building a business.

“We find out first what women need … to make sure we tailor what’s done in the Cedar City office to the specific needs of women in the area,” said Ann Marie Wallace WBC of Utah executive director. “Another important thing is that we connect them to each other.”

The office likely will be located in the Southern Utah University Business Resource Center. Plans are being finalized now and the search for the Cedar City program director is underway. Initially, the program director will also serve as the business consultant. As the center grows, a full-time consultant will be added. Right from the start the center will offer women entrepreneurs training and mentoring.

Nationwide network

The offices are part of a nationwide network of Small Business Administration resource partners that includes the Small Business Development Centers and SCORE, a cadre of retired executives serving as mentors. The network is funded in part by the SBA to provide counseling and consulting as well as training services for small business owners.

Wallace said that work at the center will focus on three key areas. Helping women build confidence in their business vision is step one.

“In many ways women need to be encouraged or told they can do it by someone else,” Wallace said. “So many women have told us that.”

Making women aware of new opportunities for doing business is also a goal.

“These are opportunities they didn’t know existed before,” she said. “For instance, we can help them get into a government contracting program and all of the sudden they have access to a whole bunch of bids now.”

The third area of struggle for women is recognizing their own success. Wallace said that many women already running a business don’t realize how much they have accomplished.

“We help them to experience success,” Wallace said.

The Salt Lake City WBC office has been in operation for 20 years. Wallace said efforts to reach out to women beyond the Wasatch Front is part of their work.

“Our center was already desperately trying to help our rural areas,” she said.

Part of that outreach was the creation of virtual Women’s Business Centers through chambers of commerce throughout the state. The Cedar City chamber website plays host to a virtual center that provides business owners with a list of mentors and resources along with a portal to the WBC online training page.

Grant awarded

The WBC was awarded a grant earlier this month to expand operations in the state. After consulting with the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development and other business groups, it was determined the women of Southern Utah were at the most disadvantage, Wallace. Cedar City’s location and access to a university made it a top contender.

“Cedar City is right off the freeway. It’s near to St. George, which is the fastest growing city in the United States,” Wallace said. “So, there are a lot of reasons that went into the decision to locate in Cedar City.”

The new office will effectively divide the state into two regions with the Salt Lake office serving the north and the Cedar City office serving the south.

Wallace is confident the new location will help Utah businesswomen continue their impressive rise in the national business rankings recognized by the annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report commissioned by American Express. Utah women ranked No. 7 for Economic Clout in the 2017 report. That clout is defined as the growth in the number of firms and growth in employment and revenues. The state has ranked in the top 10 for the last three years according to Wallace.

“Women in Utah do really well, compared to other states. We love that,” she said.

Wallace concedes that Utah women rank “fairly low” by other metrics such as wages. “But when it comes to business women’s ownership that is the opposite so we want to share that story.”

The new office will give women the chance to tell their own business story. An opportunity Wallace hopes women won’t hesitate to exploit.

“Our center really wants to help women improve their lives by owning a business,” she said.